New Orleans Pelicans' Anthony Davis Growing Up Quickly

By Michael Pidgeon

Justin Ford-USA TODAY Sports

Anthony Davis has been nothing but amazing so far this season for the New Orleans Pelicans. The term sophomore slump is used to describe when a player’s stats drop down after having a solid rookie season. That doesn’t appear to be happening to Davis yet this year and quite frankly may not happen at all.

Even though the Pelicans acquired Jrue Holiday and Tyreke Evans this past offseason and also have Eric Gordon, Davis has shown he is not only the best player on the team, but the most important as well. So far this year, Anthony has improved his stats in just about every category and continues to show exactly why he was selected No. 1 in the 2012 NBA draft.

Davis is playing ten more minutes a game this season than he did in his rookie campaign. That is the obvious reason for his increase in just about every stat, but it’s also the reason for his decreased shooting percentage and more turnovers per game. He is currently shooting just about 44 percent which could end up being worrisome if he doesn’t pick the percentage up as the season moves on, but for now it’s not something that should put a huge blemish on his season to this point.

With Anthony playing at such a high level, the previously stated Holiday, Evans and Gordon need to all play at just as high of a level. If all four of these players — and even Ryan Anderson when he returns from injury — are able to get it all together the Pelicans could very well sneak into the Western Conference playoffs as a lower seed.

Even if the postseason isn’t in the future for the Pelicans Davis should not frown upon the season he is having. He just needs to continue doing what he’s doing and he will be an All-Star in February and one of the best big men in the entire NBA come season’s end.